20% of iPhones in France unlocked

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Mobile phone company Orange has said 20% of customers who have bought iPhones from it in France have opted for unlocked ones. Orange sold the popular Apple product for 399 euros (&pound;288) with a two-year contract, or 749 euros without one.

Elsewhere, mobile companies only sell iPhones to customers who take out network contracts with them. Orange sold 30,000 iPhones in the first five days, 20% of which were unlocked so they could be used on any network.

Orange says that 48% of people buying the phones were new customers for the network.

Court ruling

On Tuesday, a German court overturned an injunction that had forced T-Mobile to sell unlocked phones.

In the two weeks that the injunction was in place, T-Mobile sold unlocked iPhones for 999 euros, compared with 399 euros for a phone with a two-year contract. The company has not revealed how many unlocked phones it sold at that price but says it did sell some.

The exclusive agreements between Apple and mobile operators have caused controversy outside France, with software circulating online that claims to unlock the iPhone.

Apple has warned that hacking into the phone's software could render the phones "permanently inoperable" if software updates are downloaded.